Alternative for those with limited time

[thepoetvd776]

Hello folks, I have been researching the fmsifferent online colleges featured here such as TESU and WGU. However I wanted to know if there was another program which was more ideal for those who had limited time. Both of these colleges it seems is ideal for those who can knock out clases back to back rapidly and really take advantage of the 6 month payment.

Currently I have other obligations that limited my time, so I was looking for a program or college that would just let me work on 1 class at a time and not push me to have to try to cram as much as I can in 6 months in order to get my money's worth. Of course everything would have to be online only. I currently live in NJ and I'm trying to get a BA in computer science if thsf affects the recommendations.

I don't mind paying extra for this per class I just want it to be cheaper than 6 months of wgu

[Supermind]

WGU has a 6-month payment package. TESU does not. You could take your own time, complete courses outside of TESU, and transfer the credits. Of course, you need to take the Cornerstone and Capstone courses at TESU only. Many of us here complete our TESU degrees in 9-12 months.

[Merlin]

Hello folks, I have been researching the fmsifferent online colleges featured here such as TESU and WGU. However I wanted to know if there was another program which was more ideal for those who had limited time. Both of these colleges it seems is ideal for those who can knock out clases back to back rapidly and really take advantage of the 6 month payment.

Currently I have other obligations that limited my time, so I was looking for a program or college that would just let me work on 1 class at a time and not push me to have to try to cram as much as I can in 6 months in order to get my money's worth. Of course everything would have to be online only. I currently live in NJ and I'm trying to get a BA in computer science if thsf affects the recommendations.

I don't mind paying extra for this per class I just want it to be cheaper than 6 months of wgu

So, if I understand what you're asking:

1. You want to find a CS degree program that is better for people who don't have time to complete their courses in 6 months.
   
2. You don't mind paying extra per class as long as its cheaper than 6 months of WGU.
   

For #1 you can accumulate alt. ed. credits online and then transfer them to TESU to complete a degree. Doing it this way you can take as long as you like, there is no pressure to get anything done in 6 months or what not. You will still have to take two courses directly from TESU and you'll need to find a data structures class at a local community college or at some other online college since it's not available via alt. ed. sources.

#2 is contradictory. You don't mind paying extra as long as its cheaper than WGU? Well first off, WGU is the cheapest college option out there, you won't find another option to complete a degree for cheaper than WGU (which is about $3,500 for the CS degree if you can complete it in 6 months). If you have a lot of courses to complete you can generally transfer in up to 90 credits (30 courses) towards WGU, to help you get done in 6 months if needs be, but you'll be paying around $100 per 3-credit course (up to $3,000 for 30 courses - but you can take as long as you like to complete them).

At TESU, you'll be paying at least $2,196 for the two required TESU courses, plus another $2,534 for residency waiver and graduation fees. On top of that, you'll need to pay for any classes you take online from other sources, which generally run about $100 per 3-credit course, plus the cost of the data structures course at a regular college. So depending on how many courses you need to take, those extra courses will run up to $3,700 more (not including data structures which will probably be at least $400 on its own). So you're looking at up to ~$9,000 but you can take as long as you like to finish the courses.

In any case, if you don't mind paying more, you can get a degree from TESU and take as long as you like. Alternatively, you can work on a bunch of transfer credits and then send them to WGU and only need the last 10 courses at WGU to complete in the last 6 months. That will be quite a bit cheaper.

[sanantone]

I think University of the People might be cheaper, but it's not regionally accredited.

[jsd]

I think University of the People might be cheaper, but it's not regionally accredited.

U of People will run you slightly more than WGU for a bachelor's, but not much (assuming you pull it off within 1 term at WGU).

After all courses we estimate the total fees for the:

Associate Degree are $2,060
Bachelor’s Degree are$4,060
MBA is $2,460
M.Ed. is $2,660

And as you stated, it'd only be a Nationally Accredited degree.

[sanantone]

I think University of the People might be cheaper, but it's not regionally accredited.

U of People will run you slightly more than WGU for a bachelor's, but not much (assuming you pull it off within 1 term at WGU).

After all courses we estimate the total fees for the:

Associate Degree are $2,060
Bachelor’s Degree are$4,060
MBA is $2,460
M.Ed. is $2,660

And as you stated, it'd only be a Nationally Accredited degree.

It's extremely difficult to complete a bachelor's degree at WGU in one term without transfer credits. If you do use transfer credits, you have to include the cost of those transfer credits in your total cost. University of the People now accepts transfer credits. While I don't recommend it, if someone doesn't have problem with a nationally accredited school, then University of the People will usually be the cheapest option.

Just to be clear, I think it's worth it to pay a little more for a regionally accredited degree. If someone doesn't like the constraints of a pay-by-time program, then TESU will be the cheapest option.

[mysonx3]

Just to make clear what others have said: TESU is not structured like you're describing or like WGU (all-you-can-eat for a 6 month term). It's pretty much exactly what you're asking for - there are no fees per term.

[natshar]

WGU has a 6-month payment package. TESU does not. You could take your own time, complete courses outside of TESU, and transfer the credits. Of course, you need to take the Cornerstone and Capstone courses at TESU only. Many of us here complete our TESU degrees in 9-12 months.

It is becoming harder to complete a TESU in 9-12 months. Because you need 100 credits before registering for the capstone, and the 3 months the capstone takes. It would basically involve earning 100 credits in around six months time graduate to in a year or less. The reason I said six months is because you would need time in order to sign up for and take the 3-month capstone and graduate on time. This is doable but not easy, especially if you have no prior credits and don't have time to dedicate to schooling.

When I first found out about the big3/degreefourm it was 2013 and a different time. There was no capstone or cornerstone and many CLEP/DSST were UL and some were easier. (Here's to Your Health comes to mind) People got degrees from scratch in 4-6 months. There are old posts talking about this.

With current policies, a year (from start to conferral) from scratch would be pretty much the minimum one could get from any the of the big 3 and I suspect it would only get harder in the future.

[mgmar22]

WGU has a 6-month payment package. TESU does not. You could take your own time, complete courses outside of TESU, and transfer the credits. Of course, you need to take the Cornerstone and Capstone courses at TESU only. Many of us here complete our TESU degrees in 9-12 months.

It is becoming harder to complete a TESU in 9-12 months. Because you need 100 credits before registering for the capstone, and the 3 months the capstone takes. It would basically involve earning 100 credits in around six months time graduate to in a year or less. The reason I said six months is because you would need time in order to sign up for and take the 3-month capstone and graduate on time. This is doable but not easy, especially if you have no prior credits and don't have time to dedicate to schooling.

When I first found out about the big3/degreefourm it was 2013 and a different time. There was no capstone or cornerstone and many CLEP/DSST were UL and some were easier. (Here's to Your Health comes to mind) People got degrees from scratch in 4-6 months. There are old posts talking about this.

With current policies, a year (from start to conferral) from scratch would be pretty much the minimum one could get from any the of the big 3 and I suspect it would only get harder in the future.

I was going to start the TESU. Shouldn't i? I have also an UoPeople option. But i haven't decided yet.

[dfrecore]

WGU has a 6-month payment package. TESU does not. You could take your own time, complete courses outside of TESU, and transfer the credits. Of course, you need to take the Cornerstone and Capstone courses at TESU only. Many of us here complete our TESU degrees in 9-12 months.

It is becoming harder to complete a TESU in 9-12 months. Because you need 100 credits before registering for the capstone, and the 3 months the capstone takes. It would basically involve earning 100 credits in around six months time graduate to in a year or less. The reason I said six months is because you would need time in order to sign up for and take the 3-month capstone and graduate on time. This is doable but not easy, especially if you have no prior credits and don't have time to dedicate to schooling.

When I first found out about the big3/degreefourm it was 2013 and a different time. There was no capstone or cornerstone and many CLEP/DSST were UL and some were easier. (Here's to Your Health comes to mind) People got degrees from scratch in 4-6 months. There are old posts talking about this.

With current policies, a year (from start to conferral) from scratch would be pretty much the minimum one could get from any the of the big 3 and I suspect it would only get harder in the future.

It really depends on where people are starting.  When I came in, I already had 72cr from 3 different schools - and ALL of them fit into my degree at TESU.  So someone like me may be able to get 42cr plus the cornerstone and capstone in 6 months.